DAVE Reynolds netted his 50th league goal of the season as he bagged four in Malvern Town’s 5-2 thrashing at Ellesmere Rangers.

The potent striker reached the landmark and completed his hat-trick in the 84th minute before hitting the net for the 51st time this term in injury-time.

It was a memorable day for Reynolds and Malvern who finished the West Midlands League Premier Division season on a high.

But the bumper victory was not enough to secure a top-three place as they finished fourth, two points behind Wolverhampton Sporting Community who beat Dudley Sports 3-0.

Reynolds also got Malvern off the mark in spectacular fashion inside the opening five minutes.

After a cross from Matt Pinder, returning from injury, Bryan Craven headed the ball on to Reynolds who found the bottom corner with an overhead kick from 12 yards out.

Four minutes later, Pinder went close as he drove into the box before a firing a shot which keeper Damien Stevens parried away.

Malvern were on fire and doubled their tally on the 10th minute when a cross from the left was headed home by Louis Loader.

But Town were then left stunned when Ellesmere were awarded a penalty after the referee adjudged Dene Whittal-Williams to have handled the ball. It was a dubious decision and Scott Ryan made the most of it as he converted the spot-kick.

This appeared to affect Malvern’s moral as they became jittery for the next 20 minutes and the ball was restricted to the middle of the park.

But Reynolds settled their nerves on 36 minutes when he latched onto a through ball from Chris Parker, ran into the box and finished to give his side a 3-1 lead.

Seven minutes into the second period, Reynolds thought he had scored his third when he turned in Pinder’s delivery to the back post after good work from Max Kontic-Coveney and Nathan Hayward.

But the goal was chalked off for offside and, to add to his frustration Ellesmere closed the gap after pouncing on a mistake.

After a goal-kick was sent into Malvern’s box, Kontic-Coveney tried to head the ball back to keeper Charlie Weaver only for it to fall to Kart Bailey to put it away.

But Town responded well and with six minutes to go Reynolds stepped up to the plate again.

The forward fired home for his hat-trick before grabbing his fourth goal late on to complete an emphatic away win.